Ed Perez, chairman of the Texas State Society’s Black Tie & Boots Inaugural Ball, said, “There may not be a Texan in the White House, but that doesn’t stop Texans from throwing the best party in town.”
Partying like they were out to prove him right, 11,000 people whooped it up at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor.
Cowboy-hatted, boot-wearing, formal-gowned revelers seemed to be pouring hot sauce on everything except the cupcakes, using individual little bottles of it that were thoughtfully provided in the chow lines.
At the ball’s Texas State Fair, you could buy all things Texan, from boots to buckles. At booths in the ballroom, Native American women sold handcrafted items. Everywhere you looked there was Texas food galore and endless groups of down-home bands (I spotted Asleep at the Wheel).
Compared with most of the ten official balls, watching the varied crowd here was more fun. I saw knockout women in Neiman Marcus gowns and gorgeous Native American women in updated, 21st-century tribal outfits. Many of them, as well as their majestic escorts in full regalia, wore massive turquoise jewelry.
At the Lincoln 2.0 Inaugural Ball, held a night earlier at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, many of the guests wore hoopskirts or Civil War uniforms. But if that sounds sedate, the evening was far from it, especially with a champagne reception in a Victorian parlor and a room dedicated to Knob Creek, a nine-year-aged Kentucky straight bourbon, in addition to the many bars in the ballroom.
The Knob Creek bunch was disappointed; they couldn’t serve the snazzy drinks they had designed because the fruit juices would have stained the white marble floors, but they made the best of it by pouring with a generous hand.
One treat was the chance to roam this fine museum and the National Portrait Gallery without the usual crowds. On exhibit at the Portrait Gallery was an important new acquisition: a large-scale collage of “Hope,” the Shepard Fairey poster that played such an important role in President Obama’s campaign.
Musical groups were tucked away in different rooms of the huge building, but the main show was in the Great Hall. Eight-time Grammy winner Anita Baker warbled to the crowd’s delight, and blues guitarist and songwriter Keb’ Mo’ performed special songs to honor Obama.
From Hawaii, musician-singer-songwriter John Cruz, acclaimed as the best in the islands by Hawaii magazine, gained new fans here on the mainland.
Many guests were touched that they were attending a ball on the very spot where Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural was celebrated in 1865. We marveled that in this city about to observe the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth we were paying tribute to the election of an African American to the highest office in the land--unimaginable in Lincoln’s lifetime or even a few decades ago in ours.
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By Donna Shor
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Donna Shor writes the "Around Town" column for Washington Life. She has written for the Washington Times and the Alexandria Times.
Her career as a journalist began during a twenty-year stay in Europe, when she wrote feature stories for the Paris-based International Herald Tribune. View the full profile.
Use either an RSS feed or sign up by email and get a brief topic summary each week.
Donna Shor writes the "Around Town" column for Washington Life. She has written for the Washington Times and the Alexandria Times.
Her career as a journalist began during a twenty-year stay in Europe, when she wrote feature stories for the Paris-based International Herald Tribune. View the full profile.